
Three Leg Exercises To Improve Your Skiing
Have you ever wanted to build stronger legs to improve your skiing? Unsure which exercises are the best bang for your buck? I’ve got you covered! Below you will find a detailed explanation of three hand selected lunge variations to help build stronger quads, improve core stability, and trunk tension. All of which are essential to skiing.
The lunge is a valuable ski exercise because it takes advantage of asymmetrical foot positioning. That's to say, one foot is always forward while the other is back. Although this may seem insignificant, we must remember that during a ski turn, we see this same pattern.
When you're going down the hill, one ski is always “uphill” and one ski is always “downhill”. To accomplish this, one boot slides forward while the other shifts back. For this reason alone, lunges are spectacular for building stronger, more functional legs when it comes to choosing ski exercises. You can train this relationship in the gym with the following three variations to the standard lunge.
I’ve gone ahead and included two slides per variation as well as one stand-alone slide for how to properly hold kettlebells. The first slide will show the movement with proper form, noting in the caption things to execute. The second slide will show common errors that can create problems in the future, or limitations in your ability to get stronger.
The three variations progress in mechanics. The first is the easiest, the second adds an upper body and abdominal challenge, the third puts your skills to the test by challenging your entire system’s ability to stabilize.
STATIC LUNGE WITH 2 HANDED GRIP
This is the weighted foundation of all lunge variations and ski specific single leg exercises.
Rep Recommendations
- 3-4 sets of 4-6/leg - Build Strength - go heavy
- 2-3 sets of 8-10/leg - Build Size - go medium
- 2-3 sets of 12-15/leg - Build endurance - go light


KETTLEBELL DOUBLE RACK LUNGE
Now let’s take your foundation and increase the stress on your core muscles. This is great for skiing moguls and tough chundery snow that bobbles you. The placement of the kettlebells lines up directly above your core muscles.
By default these muscles must engage to prevent your low back from doing all the work. So, make sure to SQUEEZE your abs prior to every rep. If you're unsure how to do this, imagine someone is about to punch you in the stomach. The way you brace for that is by default core engagement! This is a great alternative if your forearms get tired holding the weights at your side.
Rep Recommendations
- 3-4 sets of 4-6/leg - Build Strength - go heavy
- 2-3 sets of 8-10/leg - Build Size - go medium
- 2-3 sets of 12-15/leg - Build endurance - go light
A quick note on grip:

Failure to do so (2) will result in broken wrists, sliding shoulder position, and increased stress on the neck muscles and low back. Additionally this error will flare the elbows (2) causing the shoulders to take on too much responsibility.


IPSILATERAL STATIC LUNGE
Okay, stay with me here. Ipsilateral is just a fancy trainer word for noting the side of the body opposite the stable side. Essentially you're holding weight on the side of the body with less stability. This is made obvious in the next visual. There you can see that failure to engage your core
Will result in tipping or leaning to one side.
This ski specific exercise is valuable because it represents a common exchange in stability that we feel on snow. Your obliques (side ab muscles) are constantly engaging and relaxing as your feet shift from side to side in a ski turn. Improving this ability will create greater trunk stability (middle of the body) so that you can ski anything you want.
Start light and force yourself to perform this exercise with perfect form. Film yourself and watch for changes in stability or leaning. The more upright you maintain, especially with heavier weight, the better off you’ll be on snow!
The rep recommendations for this ski exercise require proficiency in the first two lunge variations. The idea is that you go heavy enough that you have to “fight” to stay upright. That way you know the core muscles are being challenged.
Rep Recommendations
- 2-4 sets of 6-10/leg - Build Stability - Go as heavy as you can manage without losing position.


If you find this information useful, please share this blog post with another skier :). I hope skiers all over the world will have the tools necessary to properly train for the upcoming season. Make sure to incorporate these into your ski workout programs, or better yet, check out all 50+ customized skiing workout programs on our site by scrolling to the bottom of the homepage and answering the questions.
In Good Health,
Abe (Founder)